What if Walt Disney was the producer of Looney Tunes/Walt Disney Animated Classics/The Lion King/Simba the Lion King
Simba the Lion King is a popular children's novel written in 1980 by British author Roald Dahl. It was adapted into a film, The Lion King, in 1994. The story takes place in a kingdom of lions in Africa and was influenced by William Shakespeare's Hamlet. The novel follows a young lion named Simba who was born into royalty as heir to his father, Mufasa's, throne as the king of the lions. Mufasa's evil brother, Scar desires power over the kingdom and conspired with a legion of hyenas to kill Mufasa and Simba, so he can take over the land in their place. While Mufasa is murdered, Simba survives the attack and is manipulated by Scar into thinking he was responsible and flees into exile. Years later, Simba must regain his courage and face the difficulties of his past to defeat Scar and reclaim his role in the Circle of Life. Because of the story's occasional macabre and potentially frightening content, it has become a regular target of the censors. Summary As the sun rises, Rafiki the mandrill calls the animals to Pride Rock. He greets King Mufasa and Queen Sarabi before presenting their cub to the gathered animals. Elsewhere, Mufasa's brother, Scar, laments his lost chance at becoming King. Back at his baobab tree, Rafiki paints an image of the cub and asks the spirits to conjure the new prince's name: Simba. Time passes and Simba grows into a lively young cub. Mufasa shows Simba the Pride Lands from the top of Pride Rock and explains that everything exists in a delicate balance known as the Circle of Life. Mufasa warns Simba not to stray beyond the boundaries of the Pride Lands, pointing out a shadowy area in the distance. Zazu, a hornbill who acts as Mufasa's advisor, arrives and delivers his daily report on the state of affairs in the King's domain. Simba goes to see his Uncle Scar. The scheming lion piques the cub's curiosity by mentioning the elephant graveyard, where Simba is forbidden to go. Meanwhile, the lionesses go hunting. Simba arrives and asks his best friend, a female cub named Nala, to come with him to the elephant graveyard. He lies to their mothers about where they are going, and Sarafina (Nala's mother) and Sarabi allow the cubs to go, escorted by Zazu. Simba and Nala formulate a plan and manage to lose Zazu, while Simba brags about his future position. The cubs go to the graveyard and begin to explore. Zazu catches up, but they are confronted by an hyena clan led by a vicious hyena named Janja. The hyenas intend to eat the trespassers and gloat about their find. Mufasa rescues the cubs and frightens off the hyenas. Mufasa is disappointed and angry at Simba's reckless disobedience and explains the difference between bravery and bravado. Mufasa tells Simba about the great kings of the past, as well as God and Jesus Christ, and how they watch over everything from the stars. Mufasa says that he will always be there for his son. Later, he discusses Simba's behavior with Zazu, who reminds Mufasa that he had the same tendency to get into trouble at Simba's age. Back at the elephant graveyard, Scar tells Janja of his plan to kill Mufasa and Simba so that he can become king, promising that he and his species will never go hungry again if they support him. Scar takes Simba to a gorge and tells him to wait there. On Scar's signal, the hyenas start a wildebeest stampede into the gorge. Scar tells Mufasa that Simba is trapped in the gorge. Mufasa leaps into the stampede and manages to save his son, but as he tries to escape, Scar throws him off the cliff back into the stampede, killing him. Scar convinces Simba that his father's death was his fault and tells him to run away, but as he leaves, Scar orders the hyenas to kill him. Simba escapes, which the hyenas tell Scar that he is dead. Rafiki and the lions mourn the deaths. Scar claims the throne and allows the hyenas into the Pride Lands. Rafiki returns to his tree and smears the drawing of Simba, while Sarabi and Nala quietly grieve. Out in the desert, Simba collapses from heat exhaustion. Vultures begin to circle, but are scared away by a honey badger named Bunga. Simba feels responsible for Mufasa's death, but Bunga takes the cub to his jungle home and shows him his species' carefree way of life. Simba grows to adulthood in the jungle. Under Scar's rule, the Circle of Life is out of balance and a drought has hit the Pride Lands. Zazu, now a prisoner of Scar, listens to the king's woes. The hyenas are complaining about the lack of food, but Scar is only concerned with himself and why he is not loved. He is haunted by visions of Mufasa and rapidly switches between delusional confidence and paranoid despair. Nala arrives to confront Scar about the famine and Scar decides she will be his queen and give him cubs. Nala fiercely rebukes him and resolves to leave the Pride Lands to find help. Rafiki and the lions bless her for her journey. Back in the jungle, Bunga wants to sleep, but the restless Simba is unable to settle. Annoyed, Simba leaves him, but Bunga loses his courage and follows him. Simba leaps across a fast-moving river and challenges Bunga to do the same. Bunga falls in and is swept downstream. He grabs a branch over a waterfall and calls for Simba's help, but Simba is paralyzed by a flashback of Mufasa's death. Bunga falls from the branch and Simba snaps out of the flashback, rescuing his friend. Simba is ashamed that Bunga nearly died because of his recklessness. Simba and Bunga settle to sleep and discuss the stars. Simba recalls Mufasa's words, but his friend laughs at the notion of dead kings watching them. Simba leaves, expressing his loneliness and bitterly recalling Mufasa's promise to be there for him. Rafiki hears the song on the wind, joyfully realizes that Simba is alive, and draws a mane onto his painting of Simba. In the jungle, Bunga is hunted and chased by a lioness. Simba confronts her and saves his friend, but recognizes the lioness as Nala. She is amazed to find Simba alive, knowing that he is the rightful king. Nala tells Simba about the devastated Pride Lands, but Simba still feels responsible for Mufasa's death and refuses to return home. On his own, Simba meets Rafiki, who explains that his father lives on. Mufasa's spirit appears in the sky and tells Simba he is the one true king and must take his place in the Circle of Life. Reawakened, Simba finds his courage and heads for home. Meanwhile, Nala wakes Bunga to ask where Simba is, and Rafiki appears to tell them all the news. They catch up with him in the Pride Lands, where he witnesses the ruin of his home. Bunga and some other honey badgers distract some hyenas, allowing Simba and Nala to reach Pride Rock. Scar calls for Sarabi and demands to know why the lionesses are not hunting. Sarabi stands up to him about the lack of anything to hunt, angrily comparing him to Mufasa, and Scar strikes his sister-in-law, saying he's ten times the king Mufasa was. Enraged, Simba reveals himself. Scar forces a confession of murder from Simba and corners him. Believing that he has won, Scar taunts Simba by admitting that he killed Mufasa. Furious, Simba recovers and forces Scar to reveal the truth to the lions. Bunga fights the hyenas while Simba battles Scar to the top of Pride Rock. During the battle, Simba battles Scar atop Pride Rock. During their battle, Scar viciously claws Simba in the face, and the impact is so great, that Simba falls backwards. Then, while Simba is on his back, Scar walks towards Simba and says "Goodnight sweet prince". Scar leaps toward Simba preparing to murder him but just as Simba is about to die, he uses his hind legs to shove Scar off of him causing Scar to fall off the edge of Pride Rock. Suddenly, Simba hears a cry for help from below. He sees Scar clinging onto the edge of Pride Rock who is trying to avoid falling into the burning flames far below him to his death. It is confirmed that it was indeed Scar who was calling for help as he does so once again. Although Simba is willing to let Scar fall and die, he decides to help him when Scar tells Simba that if he lets him fall he is then a murderer and that he will be no better than Scar, something Scar knows Simba is not. To make his security that much better, Scar even adds that Simba has won, and is now king (which is obviously a lie). When Simba attempts to help Scar, Scar grabs Simba's mane and dashes him off the edge causing Simba to fall, but just before Simba is about to smash into the burning ground below he lands on a tree, breaking his fall and causing him to hit the ground with lesser impact. As Simba falls onto safe ground, the fire around him begins to spread, so Simba runs for his life, narrowly avoiding the fire. Although to Scar, Simba's survival was too far away to see, to him Simba simply fell until he was too small to see, causing Scar to believe that Simba fell to his death and that he had won, but finds himself surrounded by the now resentful Janja and the rest of the hyenas, who had reformed after realizing he woundn't do his deal with them. Scar frantically tries to absolve himself, but the hyenas ignore him, attack him and maul him to death, as flames rise around them. It begins to rain and the rain puts the fire out. After Simba's near death, he appear with the rest of the lions and Bunga, revelating he is alive. With the battle won, Simba's friends come forward and acknowledge Simba as the rightful king. Simba ascends Pride Rock and roars out across the kingdom. The Pride Lands recover and the animals gather in celebration as Rafiki presents Simba and Nala's newborn cub, continuing the Circle of Life. Characters References in the book to other Roald Dahl works Film adaptation Though Roald Dahl declined numerous offers to have a film version of Simba the Lion King produced, he was conviced by his wife Liccy Dahl in 1988 and had selled the novel's film rights to Walt Disney, along with the ones to his other novel Timon and Pumbaa. The Lion King was released on June 15, 1994, to a positive reaction from critics, who praised the film for its music, story, and animation; it finished its theatrical run as the highest-grossing release of 1994 and the second highest-grossing film of all time. It is also the highest-grossing traditionally animated film of all time. There are numerous changes in both the plot of the film and the plot of the book (specially Timon and Pumbaa was added into the film as a subplot and the two titular characters replacing Bunga), though the film was generally well received. Liccy Dahl said that, "I think Roald would have been delighted with what they did with Simba." Musical adaptation